Comment Archives: Locations: Restaurants: Cajun

My husband and I are fairly regular customers at Don's Bayou because we love the good food and pleasant chats with the owners, Don and Teresa. They're such nice people and make us feel welcome as soon as we come in the door. Lately we've been going in on weekend mornings before noon when they serve large mugs of rich coffee (freshly brewed by the cup) and beignets (kind of like a doughnut: a square of fried dough eaten hot and sprinkled with powdered sugar). I know they're adding freshly-cut fruit to their weekend morning menu, too. We haven't tried it yet but intend to do so. The weather has been so beautiful, so we've been enjoying this weekend treat on the patio overlooking the garden area and the Catalinas.

None of their food, much of it deep-fried, is particularly good for the waistline, to which we can personally attest because we can't resist! One of our favorite entree items is the shrimp po'boy. It's plenty spicy with either remoulade or shrimp cocktail sauce , and oh so good! We also love the really thinly sliced, vinegary cabbage coleslaw. The food tends to be expensive, but really fresh seafood IS expensive, even on the coast. The fresh crayfish boil is wonderful and wonderfully messy. It's not always available, so we "liked" Don's on Facebook so we'll be alerted when the high quality crayfish have shipped in. There's a beer on tap that we really like called Andy-Gator. It has a higher alcohol content than normal, and is what we were looking for in a good brew to go with our spicy meals.The only thing we didn't care for were the fries, but who needs them?

I had the gumbo and my friend had the etouffee. Both were tasteless. The Gumbo was thin, watery, it seemed they had forgotten the roux. Spices were absent...The etouffee was also not a winner. The hurricanes were quite weak and the overall impression was depressing. Not recommended for New Orleans food.

Disappointed with my experience! Heard good things about the food and never got the opportunity to experience it. The way my husband and I felt sitting there patiently and watching several get seated that came after us was disturbing. Almost felt as if it was a racist thing. We were the only blacks. But oh well! Many other restaurants to try next time we hit up Tucson.